


born of blood

by Kells



Series: gifts, requests, and other little bits [16]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, F/M, Female Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-29 00:46:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8469355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kells/pseuds/Kells
Summary: request was for a mafia AU? what I did instead was a detective-infiltrates-mafia AU.I hope that is okay?title is from Gangs of New York





	

“Is this for real?”

James towered over her, standing rigid and accusing as Steph struggled upright in the bed they had been a hair’s breadth from sharing the night before. _We’ll do this right,_ he’d whispered only hours earlier, flushed all the way down his chest but grinning like he really meant it. That parting kiss had left her breathless- the memory of it stayed her tongue too long. He turned, dropped to the floor with the easy grace that never left him, and hung his head like Steph had only seen him do once before. “Yeah, I thought as much.”

He wasn’t so much brandishing her badge as caging it between his hands like some kind of poisonous spider. He needn’t have bothered, maybe- obviously, the venom had already spread.

“Yasha.“

That was Natalya- as usual, Steph had never so much as heard her enter. She had one hand on her foster-brother’s shoulder. “Listen to me. We should-“

He caught her hand and kissed her palm.

“Give us a minute, will you?”

They locked eyes for a good few seconds, then Tasha nodded once and straightened smoothly.

“I’ll be outside.”

She never even looked at Stephanie. The door shut with a click, and locked with another, and then they were alone.

“I’m sorry.”

He raised his eyes, and the sheer depth of emotion he let her see struck Steph dumb before she could say a word in her own defence. She had known, she reminded herself sharply- of _course_ she’d known that the charade had to end eventually. She’d never expected _he_ would be the one to bring it all crashing down, though- and until very recently she could never have imagined that any part of it would hurt either of them so much. “How'd you find that?”

It was the wrong question entirely, but he still answered her.

“Wasn’t me. You know what Tasha's like.”

His smile was the same dear lopsided thing, but it was different when it failed to light his eyes. Steph shut her eyes, not quickly enough to stop a single tear. She felt the air move as he reached out- and as he let his arm drop with a barely audible murmur of a sigh.

“You’re okay,” he said softly. From the catch in his voice Stephanie knew he had chosen the words deliberately. It was strange, she thought- this time it was the words themselves cutting into her chest like a whole handful of throwing knives. “Tasha won’t say anything, but if she's made you this quick God knows who else is working on it.”

Stephanie dared to open her eyes. The compassion in his expression made her wish almost immediately that she hadn’t.

“You have to go. Now, today.”

She grabbed his arm with both hands, ignoring the way he jerked like he was trying to get away.

“You’re coming with me. Both of you.”

She’d never heard anyone laugh so completely without humour.

“How the hell d’you imagine that would work?”

He wasn’t one of them, though, not really- long-standing loyalty to the boss wasn’t the same, at all, as what Lukin had so many of his people do, and once they proved coercion Steph was almost sure a lawyer like Banner would be able to get damn close to clearing him altogether.

“We can bring you in,” she rasped, hating the way ‘we’ necessarily turned 'you' into ‘them’. “You could start again. Your Tasha can go to dance school, like she-”

“You leave her out of this.”

There was a note of something like panic in his voice- James turned his face away, muttering to himself as he watched the door like he was trying to check on Natalya through it. “She’s going to be _fine_ , she's the one who caught you out- God _damn_ you for thinking she needs _your_ help after this.”

“James,” Steph breathed, desperate to comfort him- and painfully aware that he was speaking only of Natalya's future. “Sweetheart, I promise we can keep you _both_ safe.”

He didn’t even shake his head, but turned again to pin her in place with those heartbroken, all-seeing eyes.

“Not from this, Sarah.”

His expression shifted as he discovered a whole separate way she’d betrayed him. “Stephanie, I mean. Stephanie Rogers. Christ.”

He stood up, edging away as if to put physical space between himself and the words Steph hadn’t said yet.

“No, don’t tell me." 

He dragged his hand through his hair, an already-familiar gesture that always made Tasha smile and murmur something fondly sarcastic about how he’d never, ever be any good at poker. “It’ll go easier if I can say you never said anything.”

He wasn’t talking about a friendly inquiry. Stephanie slid off the bed so she could go to him- or drop to her knees and beg forgiveness, if that was what it took.

“I was never going to start anything before you had a chance to get clear, okay? If you just come with me, or- if you don’t want that, I mean- just get out of here before they find out-”

“Too late, sweet girl. I brought a cop into this house- they’ll never let that go.”

He swallowed hard, but found a smile right as Steph felt her heart hit the floorboards with a violent, aching thud. “It’s not on you, all right? I’m the one who fell for it.”

The self-loathing on his face would have made her throat close up even if it hadn’t been most of the way there already. Steph’s hands twitched towards him, again, but of course that wouldn’t help a thing.

“Shoulda known a girl like you wouldn’t look at me twice except on the job, right?”

“No.”

It hardly sounded like her own voice, but Steph forced the words out. “James, of course that’s not true.”

There had always been something about the twist of his mouth that gave his resting expression a softly tragic cast, but the resignation in his eyes made everything much worse.

“Isn’t it?”

If it weren’t for the job they would never have crossed paths at all- but that wasn’t the kind of answer that could give either of them anything like peace of mind.

“It wasn’t an act,” Stephanie whispered. That wasn’t the point at all, Nick would have said- but Nick wasn’t there, and somehow Steph didn’t think he’d ever had to negotiate quite this quagmire. “I only came here for him, okay, that's true, but- I mean, I never thought-“

She stopped, drew in a ragged breath, and tried again.

“You gotta know I meant every word, with you.”

This time, his smile was cool, and his eyes were hard.

“We talkin' about Stephanie Rogers or Sarah Kelley now?”

James reached out like he might take her hand- but settled for tossing Stephanie her badge. “Let your people look after you, okay? Get out of town for a while, maybe go see your Tony or something for a while.”

There was nothing on his face, or in his voice, that gave away the fact that he was talking, effectively, about keeping her safe during his own impending execution.

“But what about-“

“No. There’s no getting out of this one.”

He shrugged like it meant nothing. “You can give us a happy ending when they ask you for a screenplay or whatever. Send them to Cuba to drink mojitos all day while Tasha learns the samba.”

“James, for god’s sake-“

He clasped her hand gently between both of his.

“Relax, Officer. No hard feelings, okay? Just get outta here already.”

He was most of the way to the door when he turned, one hand slipping into his shirt pocket. “You might as well take this- God knows I’m not going to need it.”

Stephanie caught the little projectile mostly reflexively- it clinked against the badge she was still holding. The door slammed as she opened her hand to reveal a thin gold band, worn fine by year's of loving use.

_I’m gonna ask you properly, okay, with a ring and everything. I know just the one, sweetheart._

**Author's Note:**

> at the moment this is the only slice I have written, but I mean it to fit into a longer piece (which would, you know, outline the specific conflict and also end properly) if anyone would like to read that ? ? ? 
> 
> if not: I hope this is at least a LITTLE BIT like you were imagining, please feel free to say if you find it horrifyingly off the mark.


End file.
